Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is likely to scrap the ‘Pen Memorial’ project in the sea after several environmental organisations and political parties objected to it.
It is to be noted that the ‘Pen Memorial’ was conceived by the DMK government led by Stalin immediately after it came to power in 2021. The memorial in the name of Stalin’s father and late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi was allocated an amount of Rs 39 crore for the project.
However, it has now developed into a 130 feet tall, Rs 84 crore project ‘Pen Monument’ in the sea.
There were stiff opposition from local fishermen and social and environmental activists against the ‘Pen Monument’.
Sources in the DMK told IANS that the Chief Minister is not keen to pursue the project and instead prefer a small ‘Pen statue’ constructed at the Kalaignar memorial near Marina and not in the sea.
DMK leaders said that it is almost certain the ‘Pen Monument’ in the sea will not be constructed as Stalin has informed his close associates not to go ahead with the project given the stiff opposition and the nationwide news the issue garnered.
It may be noted that in April 2023, the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recommended Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the ‘Pen Monument’.
The Union Environmental ministry also cleared the project in June. However, the environmentalists approached the Supreme Court against the project and this has also led to an afterthought for the Chief Minister.
A public hearing was held at the Marina beach in Chennai about the ‘Pen Monument’. Several environmental organisations, activists, fishermen community and some opposition political parties strongly objected to the construction of the Pen Monument in the sea.
Sources in DMK told IANS that its is almost certain that Chief Minister Stalin would back out from the project and would go for a small Pen replica construction inside the Kalaignar memorial at Marina.
Stalin had earlier defended the Pen Monument stating that ‘Karunanidhi’s pen had changed the fate of Tamil society’.
With the 2024 general elections around the corner and Stalin pitching himself as a leader of the combined opposition, the construction of a ‘Pen Monument’ at a huge cost and at the risk of environmental pollution will tarnish his image. This is the reason why Chief Minister Stalin is backing out from the project.
–IANS